Just starting to build a solid redwood SUP from some 100 year old watertank boards. Thinking of 12' long x 31" wide x 5" thick. I have some family property on The Anahola river so not to concerned about the weight as the board will stay there. I can go thicker if needed as the redwood planks are 11" wide so joined together I can go as thick as I like. Think 5" is enough? Mahalo for the comments.
Kalani
Sorry that I don’t have the expertise to advise you on the thickness. But I would like to compliment your work. That’s some really beautiful wood you’ve got there.
Kalani, If you made those boards in the picture, I think your up to the task, but what I would do is talk to Dick Brewer, and Bill Hamilton, and see if they would make you a paddleboard for some of your wood in trade. You can tell them the ghettorat recommended it. The old growth is getting harder to find, so its valuable. I personally feel they could put it to better use than for a paddleboard which will be so heavy it would not paddle well if solid. Still I may be wrong since your a Kauai Boy. How’s Aukai, or Edwin Nakakura these days? I have some great memories of Dick’s and Rick Holts shop in the old quonset hut in Kapahi, and of Bill’s jungle shop above Hanalei, where the only thing bigger than The Bay are the mosquitoes.
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I think this is a fun flatwater paddler. I’d seriously consider chambering your board though…that is going to weigh at least 100+ lbs. Heavy is one thing, but difficult to pick up and put in the water alone, that’s another thing…My HWS, now fairly waterlogged, is about 50 lbs…and for anyone small, is a bear to get in and out of the water without wrenching their back. Good luck!
go find the wood ogre
i think he lives in the mountains somewhere up there
ambrose knows where
Mahalo for the comments, The 3 tallest boards in the photo were rough shaped by Pohaku. I live on Big Island now and just go over to Kauai every 8 to 10 weeks to work the land and play on the river. Haven't lived there since the 70's so those names fire up some old memories. I have sold Dick some koa in the past and thankyou for the lead but I have no desire or need to do any trades. I want to be able to hand down to my daughters, boards done by me. My 12' x 19" x 3" koa board weighs about 140 so I know this board will probibly weigh over 200 lbs and may not paddle that easy but the river is very glassy most of the time and i think once I get it moving it will be okay. I just wasn't sure on what thickness to go with. I planed a sample board today and the wood is beautiful, tight clear grain and nice color. The planks are 14' to 20' long x 11" wide x 2" thick so I think I will just rip them down the center, join the sides to end up with a just over 5" thick board. That will keep the waste at a minimum. Great looking board cycloxslug ,I thought about some chambering but this will be the first board I've done that is not from one solid piece of wood and the chambers always have a chance for water intrusion so I think I'll chance the weight issue and stick close to what I do. Aloha Kalani
That koa must look even better in person. To come across wood of that quality, and now some old growth redwood is pretty cool because its not 100 year old wood, but I suspect it is at least 1000 year old wood, so make sure when you plane it you take some close ups of the grain.
Hi Kalani -
I'm no expert in wood boards or SUP but do know enough to suggest that you at least consider how the overall weight of the board will affect the buoyancy. I.E. if a 12' X 30" X 5" foam/fiberglass board that weighs 30 lbs floats real nice, how's a board of the same dimensions going to float at 200 lbs? If I understand the principle of buoyancy, it is simply not going to support the same rider weight if it's already struggling under it's own weight.
I was thinking the same thing Mr. Mellor. Maybe thickness isn't the dimension to concentrate on. I think width or breadth would be first. Something to displace the weight more evenly.
Kalani, those redwood pieces are now treasures like the Koa boards. A board made of them would be too. Perhaps for keepsakes rather than practical use. Still, great project!
Good points, I may reconsider making some chambers and filling with 2 part foam. I do know what matters most in floatation is displacement, thats why boats can be made from concrete. As you can see, I have plenty of wood to go wider and /or thicker if needed. I was thinking of lashing 6 of the planks together( 3 wide x 2 tall = 33" wide x 4" thick) and putting them in my pool and see how they float me. It might give an idea what the board may do. The koa kiko'o boards I've made float suprisingly well, a 10' long x 22" wide x 2 3/8 thick would keep me just at the surface when sitting on it and by itself it would be about 1/2 out of the water (salt). Weighed about 120 ish. Kalani
I would be inclined to make a modernised version of a Tom Blake board as it would be a better use of the wood. I have been wood working for a long ,long, long time and to many times I have seen hacks take really nice wood and just butcher it !! If you don’t have the skill to build the a board that will be worthy of that wood then just put it up in the rafters and hold on to it untill you have the skills. Do some study on what you want to build and build a model of it so you will understand what it is you need to do to get the best results. Make your mistakes on the model not on your nice redwood. Use some inexpensive wood to learn on. I often make a prototype of furniture out of cheep Home Depot wood to make sure I got everything right before I cut up a couple thousand dollars worth of Koa. It would take an aprentice woodworker about 10,000 man hours of shop bench work before he has the skills to be on his own with the expensive woods.
Perfectly said…If that wood is that good, your skills need to match…
Wood ogre, I would agree, with you.
I love the recyled tank wood idea, but unless you are building a coffee table, don’t build it solid. I used recycled tank timbers to build my hollow wood Waveyarder SUP, and it’s heavy enough with that relatively light building method. I think that even a chambered board would be a poor performer, lack buoyancy, and be a real drag to paddle. By using the hollow wood method, you can build a board that’s both beautiful and performs and paddles well. Note that you will spend a great deal of time milling the wood, and you’ll find that as nice as that close grained tank wood is, it is full of flaws from a long service life, and it has very little lignin left in it. This means that the wood will absorb water, epoxy, or pretty much anything else it comes in contact with, so plan accordingly. I didn’t seal coat the interior of my board, and it took on a bit of water through a ding and gained a few pounds instantly. Final note, feel free to use my design, but do yourself a favor and take some rocker out of the tail. It turns great on a wave, but the extra tail rocker robs the board of some speed when cruising.
http://www.grainsurf.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=554&start=0
Mahalo for the comments and advice. Without sounding like I'm pounding my chest, I can assure you Paul I have the skill to do this project. Milling logs and lumber for sale is what I do. In my opinion the planing and glue up will have the most room for error/failure if not done correctly. The wood will break before the gluejoint with the way I mix epoxy and clamp. This will be board #47, first one not from one solid slab. I know redwood will carve and sand easier than curly koa. I'm thinking it will be similar to carving ulu. I'll either finish it with polyurathane or clear Awlgrip. I respectfully disagree with your thinking that ten thousand hours of shop work is needed before one can work with koa or any other expensive wood. All the beginner ukulele building classes use koa. We ( more Pohaku than myself) often let kids and beginners cut and carve on slabs of koa to learn what it feels or felt like to make and ride your own papahe'enalu as our ancestors did. They all turn out fine. What you or I may think as a board carved by a " hack ", now sits in the Bishop Museum as something priceless. Without getting to far off track, there are atleast two schools of thought when it comes to carving " old style boards ". From someone like Pohaku who refuses to use a template and carves only by his eye and feel. To someone like Greg or Jed Noll who will use templates, calipers and other tools to make something more precise. Whole other subject on which is better.
Beautiful board andygere, Thankyou for the offer. Your redwood looks very similar to mine other than mine doesn't have the surface degradation. Thanks for the new word, After researching, it seems lignin is degraded more by fungus and rot rather than age. I'm doing a test to see how much water and weight my redwood will absorb after soaking. So far after 12 hours underwater not a huge noticable difference. I also did my " raft " test today. I went with two planks wide by two planks thick. Came out 24" wide x 4" thick x 16' long. I was shocked by how well they floated me in my pool.*** So stable I got my paddle and paddled around. Granted my pool is only 50' long, I was suprised how easy it paddled and made me realize how much more stable a flat bottom makes. Convinced me that a solid board 32" wide x 5" thick will be fine for what I'm doing since I really don't care what it weighs. I may bump it up to 14' long though. I don't intend to carry it but will drag it about 25' to the water from where I'll store it. It's only going to be a river cruiser so preformance is not an issue either. I may have to rig a couple wheels for one end so I don't scratch it up dragging it around. I know there isn't many in favor of me building a solid board but this is where my interest and comfort is. I may end up with a slug but I'm betting not. I'll keep you posted. If anybody wants some koa for a nose or tail block, let me know and just pay the postage. Aloha, Kalani
***Mock up raft floated with 1 1/2" of bottom board underwater and 2 1/2" above water by itself. With me standing on it (160#), 3 of the 4" was underwater.
Kalani, I think you linked the wrong picture, but that is a very nice wooden bowl. Doing a trial float is a good idea, and if you are satisfied with how it will float and paddle, that’s all that really matters. I am coming from more of a surfing and racing perspective, where weight is really important to me. After paddling and surfing a light weight custom EPS/epoxy SUP, it was hard to go back to surfing and paddling my hollow wood machine. Similarly, once getting on a super light and efficient 14 foot BARK SUP, it was hard to be happy paddling any distance on the surfboard style SUP shapes.
The redwood will carve very easily, but even the nicest redwood tends to split quite easily so beware. I found that taking very shallow passes with my spokeshave and block plane were essential to preventing tear out, and tool sharpness was just as important as when tooling harder woods. What you will like the most is the brilliant color of the wood, especially after glassing. I put varnish on top of my epoxy, but I wouldn’t do it again. The finish was beautiful, but it took too much time and work, and the varnish is just too soft and not durable. In the future I’d consider polishing (this has worked well on some paddles I’ve made) or using an automotive clear coat, rattle can or sprayed. Also, before glassing (or even epoxy sealing if you are going without glass) do a light cheater coat, with the epoxy thinned 20% with DNA. Put it on with a foam roller, just enough to penetrate and seal. Tip it out with a foam brush to get rid of any bubbles. This will prevent the wood from drinking too much epoxy for your lam or seal coat.
Kalani, Stoked on what your doing, if I didn’t already have some salvaged Koa, I would be hitting you up for some. Ssdly, we live in a world where most people don’t see or have the same values. My houses windows are trimmed with old growth 1000 year old redwood. When I tell people that their initial reaction is negative, like I am a ecological predator. It hard to believe the wood went from the coasts of Northern California to a building in Kansas that was torn down board by board, and reclaimed, resawn, and now adorning my humble abode. Often, the best things are just below a crusty exterior, overlooked by collective herd.
I remember someone on here told the story of a contractor who exagerratedly under bid a job to demo a bridge (Newport Beach?). The other contractors kind of laughed at the the guy. What a fool. But the contractor knew that under all the creosote was a bridge constructed of solid old growth redwood…not such a fool after all…
This unfinished Paipo is old growth redwood. The planks came from a huge wine barrell. When ever the wood was cut, there was an intoxicating red wine smell eminating from the wood. Wood was puchased in Redway, Calif…(humbolt couty).
Paul Gross supplied the outline and rocker and we had a mill cut the wood per his instructions. I think we cut the outline…Paul messed with it a bit and decided it was gonna be more than he wanted to do at that time…It is very heavy and I think it would have to be chambered to make something manageable in the surf. Also the wood had a powderly quality to it …that I belive would require a fiberglass finish.
Rogelio
Yeah that was me that told that story about the old bridge going over Coast Hwy. in Newport. I learned tons about economics from that demonstration. The first law of economics is: “Everything is in short supply.” Guy wasn’t such a fool, as many had thought, so he had the last laug$.
